


Sincerely, We Three Know the Devil

by GayChaton



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson, We Know the Devil (Visual Novel)
Genre: (Nothing too gore based though), Alternate Universe - We Know the Devil, Body Horror, Horror, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Multi, Psychological Horror, Recreational Drug Use, Religious Guilt, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Underage Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-20 22:19:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12442962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GayChaton/pseuds/GayChaton
Summary: Anyone can kill the devil. Even teenagers going to Summer Scouts, the camp made for troubled kids can do it. Summer Scouts is for kids that need the extra time to do it right.Just spend twelve hours with your group in an abandoned cabin and survive without getting possessed.Easy, right?





	Sincerely, We Three Know the Devil

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fun little AU for one of my favorite games, We Know the Devil! Happy Halloween!

They're drenched in sunscreen, bug spray, and incense. They feel gross, look gross, smell gross.

  
Despite this, the sun burns through the tree leaves and pine needles and burns their skin. Summer time in a generally quiet forest, and the devil follows them. The act of being a Summer Scout is disappointing.

Three jewish boys at christian camp.

Evan looks out at the trees in the distance, Connor cracks his knuckles, Jared coughs into his elbow.

Everything about this camp is utterly inadequate. Everything from the activities (lacking in any particular goal), to the staff (who only ever sing about Jesus Christ, a figure which none of the three Jewish boys believe in), to the living conditions (no explanation needed) is disappointing. There's only a week left though.

One week of being told what they have and have not deserved. One week of cleaning and sleeping in shitty beds. 

"Fuck!" Jared hisses as a rock slips from under him. His head hits a tree branch on the way down and he lets out a string of curses.

Evan stumbles down to help him up. "Are you okay?"

"Do I look okay, Hansen?" Jared seethes. He rubs his hands over his hair but it comes back free of blood.

"Do you have a concussion or not?"

"No, fuck. Relax, I'm fine. Help me up." Jared reaches his hands up, and Evan is there to pull him upright. He rubs his palms into his temples with his shoulders hunched tight.

Despite the assurance, Evan still hovers as they tentatively start walking again. "Well, if you, uh. If you need help we could ask the counselors to let—"

"Hell no, I'm not going to tell the counsellors shit, and neither are either of you," Jared says. He points between the both of them, and wags his finger.

"I'm not getting behind on cleaning duties because you can't keep your mouth shut."

"Are we late already?" Connor asks.

Jared's brows furrow before he looks back at the trail behind him. "Shit. Maybe." 

"We left early so that this wouldn't happen," Evan says. "It can't— well, it can't be that—"

"It's 6:06," Connor interrupts, staring down at his phone.

"Motherfucker," Jared mumbles. His hands drop from rubbing his head, and he returns to regular walking speed down the trail.

Evan follows his lead. "I mean— I didn't think— really?"

"Told you so," Connor shrugs. He's not smiling. "Fuck!"

Evan looks up and Connor's dropped his phone. Evan bends down and picks it up, glancing at the screen.

  
**jeanstarry: When do u come home from summer scouts again, moms out and dad forgot** **  
** **  
** **connor.murphy: gr8, just what I needed to hear** **  
** **  
** **jeanstarry: Pray the gay away, bro. I pray everyone there will die. Except you and Evan i guess** **  
** **  
** **connor.murphy: mmmm bitch me too** **  
** **  
** **jeanstarry: Tell Evan I said hi** **  
** **  
** **connor.murphy: maybe** **  
** **  
** **jeanstarry: Fuck off** **  
** **  
** **connor.murphy: right back at u** **  
** **  
** **connor.murphy: fucking kill me** **  
** **  
** **jeanstarry: Happy hunting lol** **  
**  
"Here," Evan says, handing it gently back to Connor. Connor mumbles something that might have been a thanks and keeps walking.

"This is like…" Jared trails off. "We've gotta be close to the end of the damn trail. Tree boy, we're close right?"

Evan rubs his arm self consciously. "I mean, it'll be alright."

"No, it really fucking won't," Jared says, turning to Connor. "If you'd been watching the time like you're supposed to, we wouldn't be about to get our asses in trouble."

"Relax, the bonfire's literally right up there," Connor says, gesturing with his phone still in his hands.

Evan and Jared follow the motion, and do see a light on the ground behind the trees.

The bonfire smells like rotting church wood, metal, and monster ashes. Someone grabs a handful of incense sticks and throws those in too, and someone else tosses in some dried flowers. It smells disgusting, and it seems like only the three notice. They hate this place.

There's a perfect balance of usefulness and liability that children provide to the camp.

The Bonfire Captain stands at the front of the fire with his guitar. The kids he talks to don't even try to fake enthusiastic responses to whatever side lecture he's going on.

Evan checks, and they're not the last group there. Jared nods and takes his seat on a log, waiting for the others to do the same. They sit on the same log, just as all the other groups stay grouped up on their logs too. Connor finally looks up from his phone to eavesdrop on the other groups while Evan stares at the trees and Jared internally sneers at the counselor.

As he waits, Evan smells the air and wonders how many cremated monsters are burning in the fire right now. It must be a lot tonight.

The last group arrives. It's that dopey boy-filled Group East who think they're so cool for sneaking their video games into camp. The Bonfire Captain looms over them for an abruptly serious discussion. Connor and Jared both snicker as the boys turn red and apologize in stuttering voices before they're released to their log.

The Bonfire Captain claps his hands loudly. "Phones away, crew! Now, when I was a younger boy, going to camp, I always thought some of my friends were unreachable, and sometimes they were. Some people always are to you. But one thing that connects us all…"

The Captain starts playing guitar and preaching a sermon about how god finds his way into everybody's heart, no matter how we feel about it. It's creepy. None of the boys listen to it.

What's creepier is the way kids keep staring at them from every group.

"W-what do you think they're looking at us for?" Evan whispers. His group glances around on either side of him.

"Oh," Jared mumbles in understanding.

"What?" Evan asks, confused.

"Last week. It's our turn to head to the cabin."

Evan jumps a little in his seat. "W-what? Well maybe— maybe they won't send us this year, uh, maybe we'll. Get sent home without going."

"Nice denial," Jared snorts with a grin. "Come on. Since when have they let anyone skip?"

"Guys shut up," Connor whispers.

"B-but they—"

"Hey there, Group West," The Bonfire Captain says. He steps towards them, blocking their view of the campfire. "You seem talkative! Excited to meet the devil tonight then?"

"Fucking called it," Jared hisses.

"Did I just hear a swear word?" the Bonfire Captain asks, his head tilting at an unnerving angle.

"No sir," Jared chirps. He gives a grin, but Evan can tell he's nervous.

"Perfect!" the counselor exclaims.

"Hey, it's fine. Not many people ever die there," Connor shrugs.

"You— you've never, uh. Gone though," Evan says.

"Neither have you," Connor says.

"What a striking coincidence," the counselor says. He turns to the fire with a face taught in an eerie forced grin. "Nice sermon everyone! Now how's about we leave Group West to head out to the cabin! Don't forget to do your chores; replace your siren diodes before night sets in. South, you take the lake sirens. North, do the camp sirens. West, do the forest sirens. East, take the road ones. And West? Take the road down to the cabin. Don't come back to camp tonight!"

Groups get up and take handfuls of diode crystals before they walk out in various directions in the forest. They'll all end up on trails they know soon, heading towards repurposed telephone poles fitted with sirens on the tops.

Connor stands up first and leads them through the forest with his phone set as a flashlight. Instead of watching where he walks though, he keeps on scrolling through his phone.

When they get to the first nonfunctioning siren, Jared gestures. "Go on, Acorn. Climb like your life depends on it."

"If the captain gets mad again, your life may depend on it," Connor snickers as Evan begins scaling the metal spokes in the pole. From below him, Evan listens to them talk.

"That was your fault, by the way," Jared says. "He saw your phone."

"And he'll keep seeing it until I get to leave," Connor deflects.

Evan makes a sound and looks down. "Hey guys, bring me a new crystal?"

Jared and Connor stare at each other for a moment. "I'll keep watch," Jared says before Connor can say the same thing.

Connor groans and shoves his phone in his hoodie pocket before grabbing his backpack with the crystals inside and shimmying up the pole towards Evan.

Jared makes a noise down there. "How many did these fucking monsters break in one night?"

"Enough?" Evan guesses. Looks out at the trees. They blow in the wind, and sway, and roll like the ocean.

There's a long pause.

"Evan?"

Evan looks down, and Connor's staring at him expectantly, holding out a crystal diode. "Oh, sorry!" Evan takes it. "Thanks."

Connor watches him as he fixes the siren.

The back needs to be taken out, and the broken crystal needs to be pulled out without cutting up your hand. Evan reaches in, and he breathes out a sigh as the crystal he pulls out is only chipped, not shattered into fractals.

"I'm glad you're good at climbing up here all the time," Connor mutters. "We wouldn't have survived the summer if you didn't do this for us."

"It's okay, I usually do this anyway," Evan smiles, he's used to it. "Jared isn't a fan of heights."

"Is he scared?" Connor asks.

Evan is reminded once again that Connor is new to Group West. He’d been in Group North for most of the summer, and when he nearly beat one of his roommates to unconsciousness the night before their trip to the cabin, the counselors relocated Connor to the only group left who still had to go to the cabin. Or, at least, that’s what Jared says, and Evan takes most of it at face value because he isn’t too involved with the gossip scene.

For a second, he spaces out, remembering Jared at school, complaining about rope climbing in their mandatory Physical Education class.

"Not particularly scared, just—" Evan fishes out the last bit of the broken diode. "Doesn't like climbing."

He slides the crystal into its place as the power source and it glows and crackles to life. Ambient horns and static blast as loud as a car radio, catching them both off guard. Connor grunts, surprised. "Shit, already?"

Evan frowns too.

It's louder than normal. The sound of instrument chords and rushing wind and wind chimes comes from the siren like a low torrent. The buzzing static is a warning sign from god. Literally.

"I can hear that from down here," Jared says.

Evan looks down at him and nods.

"Fuck, and we have to go to the cabin tonight?" Jared shakes his head. "Fuck me."

Connor climbs down and Evan follows. They walk along the path of their assigned sirens, but they're all making noise already. One more doesn't along the way, and Evan scales it alone to replace the shattered crystal.

It takes them another hour and a half to finish their assigned sirens before they double back to the road leading out to the cabin. The forest becomes more dense out here, and the siren poles haven't been maintained. They don't glow, and don't sound as loudly as they're supposed to.

It's unnerving.

Evan messes with his shirt hem in the last of the fading twilight. "G-guys, you heard the other sirens. It's s- like supposed to be louder than these are, right?"

"Don't be a baby," Jared mumbles, but he sounds nervous too.

"I'm not, it's just—. Just."

"Hey, we'll be alright," Connor interrupts.

Slowly, Evan flashes him a smile. "Yeah."

Jared's jaw drops. "Ho. Ly. Fuck."

"What?" Evan asks, brows furrowed before he follows Jared's gaze. "Oh."

Evan supposes the shoddy house is "the cabin". It looks fundamentally poorly structured, and utterly unsafe. The edges of its roof are rotting away.

The wood looks decades old. It doesn't seem structurally sound.

They walk up to it, Jared laughing hysterically in disbelief and Connor with a deep look of anger. Connor reaches for the door and swings it open, but stops to look at it. "Fucking hell, there's no lock."

"No lock?" Evan yelps.

"Well, I mean. Fuck, well there is, nevermind. As long as you don't mind it being nonfunctional, I _guess_ ," Connor sneers at empty air. "Fuck whoever made this shit hole."

"We're gonna, like, die here," Jared says nonchalantly, walking in.

Connor elbows Jared's side. "Don't freak Evan out, dude."

"Well I just mean—" Jared reaches out a hand to flick the light switch back and forth, but stops cold when he pushes it and the lights flicker. "Fuck, wait, _whaaat_ ?!"

Evan steps in to gape at the lights too.

Jared flicks them on, and laughs loudly as they blink into life, lit by visible electrical wire. "This place is a fucking _fire_ hazard!"

"Well…" Evan does a slow turn around the room. "Want to make a charm on the door? For safety?"

Connor steps to the doorway and closes it again. "Someone tried to tape it shut. Everything's fine but the lock, we just need to fit the wire into the lead, and the charm should hold fine against the devil and all."

"That's gonna need more wire to fit in there and stay. Or more tape," Jared says. He raises his brow and shrugs. "Well. _I'm_ gonna go look in the shack out in the yard."

"Wait, I'll go with you," Evan exclaims, stepping to his side. They both shuck their backpack off and to the ground.

Connor opens the door for them. "I'll see what I can find in here. Have fun."

Jared leads the way, Evan huddled behind him. They wordlessly break into the tiny outpost, which is annoyingly better built than the cabin. Jared flicks the lights on and sets to sorting through the crap with a slight cough and a comment about dust, but Evan waits and starts searching through compartments. "Jared?"

"Hmm?" Jared says, already checking the cramped space.

"The captain, uh, you don't think he was actually mad at Connor and you, was he?"

"Of course he was."

Evan frowns. "I don't want you to get in trouble."

"What's he gonna do, send us home?" Jared asked. He waved around. "Send us to _the cabin_ ? Little late for that. He can't do shit, man."

"He's just, I don't know. Intimidating. He seems— oh, Jared, look!"

"What?"

Evan reached in the drawer he'd been looking at and pulled out tape.

"Fuck, _score_ , we can keep the door shut with that. Let's get the hell out of here," Jared exclaims. As he finishes his sentence, a series of coughs rip through him. "And not a moment too soon, let's get some clean fucking air." He ushers Evan out, flicks off the lights, and closes the door, already walking towards the house.

"Jared…"

"Yeah?" Jared drawls.

"I just, I know it- it's not super great that we're here—"

Jared cuts him off with a snort.

"… okay, yeah, it's not great at all, sorry. But I don't want you to have to get in trouble for it."

Jared shrugs. "Yeah, not too concerned."

"Just be careful, please."

Finally, Jared looks up at Evan, and nods slightly. "If it'll help you relax, I guess."

Evan beams.

Jared blushes and shoves the door open. Connor steps back in shock, but relaxes when he sees who it is.

"Welcome home then," Connor mumbles.

"We found tape to hold the door shut and to tape the wire to the lead," Jared says, waving at Evan as he closes the door.

Evan sets about taping the doorframe sealed, and then pulls a strip of tape from the roll. "Jared, could you please, maybe, uh, hold the wire—"

Jared moves forward wordlessly and pulls the wire from the doorframe to the clump of lead fixed to the door underneath the broken lock. Evan tapes it quickly.

"Shifts for sleeping then?" Connor asks when the door buzzes with holy static.

"You guys can sleep first," Evan says, and then shies away when attention focuses on him. "Sorry. You don't have to—"

"Fine with me," Jared shrugs. "Conman, you find anywhere to sleep?"

Connor nods and steps back. "Yeah, three sleeping bags in the corner, I pulled them out."

They observe the room and find that the furniture is all pressed into the corners, messes of junk and plastic bags and pipes, but three sleeping bags lined up messily in the middle of the room. They leave the lights on as they move to their spots.

Jared sinks down to sit on the middle one, and then drops onto his back. "Fuck I want a shower."

Connor laughs sleepily. "Shut up, we all do." He collapses on the far right sleeping bag, facing down.

Evan sits quietly on the third bag, listening. First he notices Jared and Connor's breathing even out, and then he hears the crickets grow louder as the sun disappears entirely. Then, he hears the heavenly chords disappear from the sirens, and the static crows louder than usual.  The noise of static is as persistent as the crickets. It gets to Evan, and he starts worrying. He looks over his friends though, both sleeping, and decides to give it an hour before waking them up to check if they want to do the rounds.

He sits and stares at the window. Someone had turned on the porch light, but from this angle, he can't see much but the trees blowing in the gentle breeze and one vine-covered siren.

His eyes feel heavy, but he knows he won't be able to sleep until someone else promises to take guard. He feels like if he doesn't check the window every few seconds, the devil will physically manifest and sneak in. (He knows the devil doesn't work that way, but it's hard to shake the feeling.)

When he reaches over and taps Connor's phone, only forty minutes have passed. he checks three more times before the hour he promised himself is up.

He gently shakes Connor, who jerks awake almost violently. He shakes Jared awake too, but Jared just groans and sits up begrudgingly.

"What? Did something happen?" Jared croaks out.

"We should do the rounds," Evan says. He pulls his radio from his backpack, and shoves Jared's backpack towards him.

"Who cares if we do them or not?"

"I do," Evan says. He looks back at the window. "I have a bad feeling. The sirens are too loud."

"Fuck this, I'm going back to bed," Jared says. He falls backwards again, and shuffles his arm under his head as a pillow.

"Nono, Jared, please don't— Connor?"

Connor blinks. He'd been breathing hard, trying to focus.

"Did you have a nightmare?"

"No I just— don't like being woken up like that," Connor grumbles, pressing his palms against his eyes to rub the sleep away.

"Oh," Evan mumbles guiltily. "How should I do it next time?"

"Just say my name as loud as you need, if you can," Connor sighs.

"Alright," Evan nods. His radio is a compact handheld one with a long wire connecting to small headphones. He sets them around his neck and clips the radio to his belt loop. "Wanna get your radio? We need to make the rounds and make sure things are clear."

"Uh, su—"

There's a deafening wailing outside, and even Jared jerks up. "The fuck is that?" Jared yells over the noise.

It's as loud as a rock concert, and Connor has to press his fingers into his ears to protect himself from flinching at the noise.

"It's the devil, fuck," Jared hisses with realization.

Connor feels Jared tap on his arm. He blinks at Jared, connecting eyes.

"God's telling us to get a fucking move on, I guess we have to now!"

Connor groans. "Get your radio out too."

He releases his ears and moves for his own sack, pulling his radio out. His radio is a portable rectangular box with a wrist guard and a pull-out antenna. Half of it is covered with a big speaker, the other half is a screen with numbered buttons for channel tuning.

"Should someone stay?" Connor yells.

Evan's hand wraps around his wrist, and he shakes his head.

Jared fishes his radio from his bag. His is the largest out of all of them; a big bulky silver radio with a swiveling handle on the top. He grabs the handle and stares at the two of them. "I could stay if—"

Before he can finish, Evan grabs Jared's arm too.

Connor nods at the two of them and stands, heading to the door. They carefully undo the charm protecting the house and step into the dark, playing their God-frequency radios held close to ward off the devil. They hold each other's hands tight, unsure of if it's working or not.

Evan’s radio is clipped to his waistband as his sweaty hand holds Connor’s. With each step in their wide arc around the cabin, Connor’s fingers tap restlessly against his radio. He stares at the dark and glares, internally nervous.

In the dark, Connor can feel something watching him.

He doesn't know if it's the devil or just a monster, but the lack of event makes him suspect it's the first. His skin crawls, and he itches to scratch at his arms. Evan's hand crushes his own, and so he settles for grounding himself on the lanky palm. Across from him is Jared, holding Evan's hand too. He's half leading the way as well, glancing around the darkness with a façade of bravery when in reality, Connor and Evan can both hear his shaky puffs of air.

With a start, Connor realizes that he can hear Jared's breathing because the sirens are fading out. They cycle back around to the front of the cabin, and by that time, the singing of the devil has fallen into the regular lull of the static. All clear.

Connor lets them step in and resets the charm himself.

"Fuck, I need to relax," Connor says. He drops on his sleeping back and pulls his bag up again. He drops his radio back in and fishes around.

"What are you doing, dumbass?" Jared sighs.

Connor snickers when he finds what he was looking for, and raises it victoriously.

"You want to get high?" Jared asks, unimpressed.

Evan turns back to them fast from where he was rooting around in his own backpack. "What? That's super illegal! What if the chief comes?"

"The whole point is that chief won't come to check on us at all. That's _why_ you get sent out to the cabin," Connor shrugs. He taps at his pockets, but comes up empty. "Fuck, my lighter."

"I'll give you my last matches if I get a hit," Jared offers.

"Shotgun, that's it."

"Deal," Jared says, tossing a mostly empty matches box to Connor.

Evan makes a distressed sound as Connor sticks the joint between his lips to strike the match. It's cute how scared he looks.

The first one breaks, but the second one lights and fires up the end of his joint before he puts it out and drops it to the floor. He breathes in, and waves Jared over at the same time. Jared comes close and Connor hovers in front of his lips, breathing the smoke into Jared's mouth.

When they part, Jared breathes in tightly, and slowly exhales, dropping to lay on his sleeping bag.

"Evan, come smoke this with me," Connor says.

Evan squawks. "Wh— no, that's like, _super_ illegal!"

"He gets to just share, but I have to trade for a secondhand hit?" Jared mumbles from the ground.

"Evan has been given an invitation. Evan, c'mon, you're stressed out of your mind and you keep looking at the window every two seconds," Connor says.

Evan's mouth snaps shut like he was just caught red handed.

"Come on. One joint. This one's like half used anyway. Crappy weed, my dude," Connor promises, and it's all true. "Traded a bottle of nail polish for this."

Slowly, Evan scoots over until he's on Connor's sleeping bag with him. "You promise it won't mess with my judgement?"

"It'll just make you less jumpy."

"Okay…" Evan breathes deeply. "Just, breathe in a lot and then blow it out, right?"

"Hold it for like three seconds in the middle, but yeah," Connor nods, handing the joint over.

Evan plucks it up and holds it like a pencil. And then tries to hold it like a cigarette, and puts it in his lips. He sucks in a tiny breath, huffs it out instantly, and breathes in with an unintentionally exaggerated motion. He breathes, and half coughs it out, rubbing at his lips. "Oh god, this is weird."

"You did better than I thought. You've heard about doing this before?"

"Well, yeah, not that I've ever, obviously, but yeah."

"It's so cute to me," Connor says offhandedly, and Evan sputters. "What?"

"I'm cute to you?"

"Sure, you're such a newbie to this, it's almost endearing in a way. Like nobody ever showed you anything darker than how to do basic rule breaking."

Evan frowns. "Nobody did. Except, like, Jared."

Connor glances over to Jared to see his rebuttal, but the air is empty, and instead, the boy is sprawled out, unconscious. "Did he fall asleep? Holy shit," Connor laughs, just noticing.

"Yeah he needs it, probably."

Connor blinks down at him. "So he's the baddest influence in your life."

"Is there a problem with him?" Evan asks, brows furrowing. Like he was getting defensive.

"No, just trying to judge how much of a shock I am to the equation."

"Equation?"

"Of your bad influences."

"Oh. Ohhh. Got it."

"Shit, Hansen, you're high as fuck," Connor says, watching Evan in the middle of another hit.

Evan coughs it out. "Am not!"

"So fucking are. It's fine, again, crappy weed, shouldn't be a big difference. But you're so…" Connor searches for the right word. "Loose."

"Here," Evan mumbles, handing the joint back.

Connor takes a slow hit and exhales it, feeling the calm wash over him. "I mean… look at you. You haven't looked out the window in like two minutes."

Evan's eyes widen slightly.

"It's okay, nothing's gonna break in the window without us noticing. Or at all, actually."

After a tense moment, Evan sighs and nods.

"Well want another hit?"

Evan sits a moment, and then raises his hand.

Connor laughs, handing the blunt over and watching him. "You're absurd, a minute ago you were freaking out and now you're so fuckin' down."

"I'm not—" Evan chokes and coughs it up, hands flying to his stomach.

Connor just laughs harder, devolving into what might be considered giggles.

Evan smiles at him when he recovers, and passes the blunt back.

Instead, Connor waves, and his wrist makes a popping sound when he flicks it. Frowning, he rolls his wrist gently, and then his other wrist. He pulls at each of his fingers, letting them pop. They crack, each and every one, with a sharp, clear noise. Connor, mesmerized, tries it again and is dully surprised to see when he tugs a bit harder, they make the noise all over again. As he's about to try a third time, Evan makes a noise.

"Um, that's uh, not normal?"

"No?" Connor asks. He weaves his fingers together and pushes them outwards, and they make a loud shattering noise, like something brittle breaking.

"Um, Connor, I don't know if you should, um…"

"Why?" Connor makes a fist and tries squeezing. It's never worked before but when he tries, it makes the sharp noise again. He does it for the other hand and them blinks and tries just squeezing his hands into fists. Sure enough—

"Connor, it sounds like your bones are breaking! We should wake Jared—"

"Don't— don't wake up Jared, it's fine, just give me a second."

"Do you have brittle bones? You should definitely stop—"

"No, I don't, it's just interesting."

"It's creeping me out! Please stop.”

Connor bites his lip. "Fuck man, sorry."

"It's okay," Evan says, but his hands are hovering over his ears.

"Shit, Evan why didn't you just tell me to stop?"

"Because you weren't doing anything wrong—"

"No, come on— fuck, Evan," Connor exclaims, sitting back and frowning. They’re not yelling, just arguing in hushed voices. "The problem you have is you can't tell the truth when you're caught off guard, which is like, _always_ . If you could just be honest—"

"Well that's why I'm here, isn't it," Evan shrugged. "Because I just keep on lying. Well I'm sorry."

"No, I mean, you're doing better than me, just—"

"No, Connor, I'm— I'm _not,_ because all your problem is is that you're too defensive and have anger control problems, which can be worked on, which you _are_ working on. But I lie and I hurt people when they think I'm innocent but I'm not. I'm really not I'm just kind of. Awful."

Connor took a breath, and rubbed Evan's back. "I don't think so."

"Thanks."

"Are you sure you feel that way about you?"

"Yeah. Sorry."

"It's okay. I get it, kind of."

This time, Evan smiles genuinely. "Thank you, Connor."

Connor smiles back.

Jared stirs and slowly pushes himself up.

"Hey," Jared mumbles.

"Enjoy your beauty sleep?" Connor asks.

"Well at least I can sleep, I guess. Might as well take advantage," Jared shrugs.

"Yeah Connor and I are too strung. Strung up, I guess," Evan says.

Jared blinks at Evan. "Are you high? Holy fuck."

"You wanna get high too?" Connor offers.

" _Do_ I," Jared mumbles mockingly. He steals the blunt and takes a hit. "Well what time is it?"

"Like, midnight."

Jared groans. "We need something to do. Let's play a game or something.

"Truth or dare," Connor says.

"Fuck nooo," Jared rebukes. " _Hell_ no. No dares in this tiny gross cabin, too high risk."

"Seven minutes in heaven."

Jared blinks. "Is that an offer?"

"Does this place even have a closet?" Evan asks. Jared's almost angry that his question's been overridden, but he's curious too so he lets it slide.

"Yeah, and a bathroom too. They're on that wall," Connor says, pointing to the far side of the cabin.

Jared shrugs. "Well okay then, who's going?"

Evan fidgets slightly. "Can I opt out? I don't want to be in a dark confined place."

"That makes two," Jared says. "And as they say, it takes two to make out in a closet."

"This is the worst idea," Connor says, standing up.

Jared snickers and stands to follow him. "It was your idea."

"And I will win."

"You _can't_ . **_Win_ ** . **Sev** —"

"I'mma win. Evan, keep score, you're the referee for this game," Connor declares, holding the closet door open for Jared.

"You're so fucking _dumb_ ," Jared says, and the door closes behind him. Jared pauses for a little bit at the complete darkness, and turns his head. "Are you even in here or did you just lock me in?"

"That'd be a fucking shitty joke."

Jared relaxes. "So you _are_ here."

"Right here." As Connor says that, he moves forward, right in front of Jared.

"Yeah, I see you. Feel you, _whatever_ ," Jared says, but then arms wrap around his shoulders. He feels Connor's breath on him, and two warm lips plant a soft kiss on his forehead. "Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh'," Connor chuckles.

"Did you pick me just for this?" Jared asks, wrapping his arms around Connor's back.

"The whole act of having to seem like I hate everyone gets hard to hold up all the time."

"Aww, you're going soft."

A soft kiss presses against Jared's lips in the dark.

"You should do this more often."

"If I do, my family hears about it."

"Mm," Jared growls. "Fuck em."

"Don't I wish I could leave them behind."

Jared reaches a hand into Connor's hair to guide him down to his lips again. "Do you think—" their lips connect again, "there's a way you could make this work in places other than the closet of the cabin?"

Connor hums. "At what is basically Jesus Juvie Camp? Doubt it. This is a place where what we do can only be known by you and me. It's pretty fuckin secure here."

"Yeah but I don't want to have to escape to closets every time I want to not look like I hate your guts."

"Yeah well if I could I'd have moments like this with Evan."

Jared falls still for a moment.

"Do you want to stop?"

Jared snorts, and he can't waste the opportunity to say, "Yeah, talking is where I draw the line, sorry."

His hand is still in Connor's hair, so he feels Connor shake his head. "I'm being serious."

"No, chill. I like Evan too. We're on the same page here."

Connor traces figures in his shoulder. "Cool."

"We should just—" Jared pulls Connor a little closer, a little tighter, just to hug.

"Sounds like a plan," Connor says, and he sounds calm.

Jared breathes in deep, but the closet air becomes dusty and he coughs a bit. "Fuck, the cleaning ladies around here need to get on track," he jokes through his coughs.

"What?"

Jared coughs into Connor's chest. "It's so fucking dusty, we must have moved around and stirred up some dust."

"I don't smell dust…?"

Jared frowns, but his lungs catch and he devolves into a coughing fit while Connor holds him. It dies down eventually. At some point, Connor kisses him again, and then spits to the side, saying he could taste the dirt only on Jared's lips.

Something about that is deeply worrying.

A few minutes of silence later, Evan knocks on their door, and they go back to playful banter sitting on their sleeping bags.

Jared can see Evan sobering up as time passes. His words stutter more and his posture tightens, but he conveys what he means to say better. Connor acts the same way through and through, but it must be wearing off for him too.

As the clock on Connor's phone hits 1:13, static fills the room. Jared groans, and half gets through suggesting they make another round he notices that it was _their own radios_ that started making noise. It's static, like the sirens, and there's some kind of other noise under the static too.

"What is that?" Evan asks, frowning at his radio.

"It's…" Connor fades, unsure.

"Sounds like words," Jared says. He can't tell if it's spoken or sung, but it's audibly a person. "Fuck, a house radio. Does that mean someone back at camp is—"

"Is it god?" Evan asks. His eyes are locked on his own radio.

"Well it's not, fuck…" Connor trails off. "I don't know what it means. The sirens should be going crazy if it's the devil, right?"

"Well let's find out," Jared decides. "I'm going to boost the signal."

He grabs for the other radios and the radio kept in the cabin too, settling them all snug next to each other on the flooring. He grabs the coiled wire of Evan's radio and wraps it around the house radio, and then motions for Connor to come help. Connor clips his own radio onto the wire of Evan's, and then lets Jared wrap his own up too. Evan reaches forward with a stick of incense and wedges it between two coils of wire, lighting it directly over the speaker. The light flashes red for a second.

Jared lifts the short remainder of the wire of Evan's radio and presses the button to recite the proper protocol. "West, Group West. This is Group West, who's trying to contact me?"

There's no response.

"Well fuck, what do we do now?" Jared asks, rocking back on his thighs.

"I mean we could ask god."

Jared groaned. "That sounds so pretentious, like—"

"Yeah I know, but shouldn’t we? I- I mean we’re at camp for this, we might as well try. Right?"

"I'll duck out to the shack and find wire then," Connor said, standing up.

Evan frowned. "But wait, it could be, um, maybe one of us should go with—"

"Nah, if I get killed out there it'll be for a good cause and all. Just get it ready, or whatever," Connor shrugged, stepping outside, carefully releasing the charm first.

Jared watches Evan pull the house radio out from the wrapped coil of wire. He uses his stubby fingernail to unscrew the screws, very slowly.

"Evan," Jared sighed. "This is such a fucking creepy thing, why do you think we need to talk to god?"

"We don't have to really, but who else would we talk to?"

Jared stops momentarily, because he's right. Nobody else was answering in the first place. "Normal fucking kids wouldn't be in this situation."

"Jared, we uh, we're not in normal scouts camp."

"I know," Jared sighs. "We're in the camp for bad kids, it just sucks that they suck so much. Like, _what camp_ just throws kids into child labor and then dangles them in front of the devil as a right of passage? None of them!"

"J-Jared, it's, it's fine we'll be okay."

Jared sighs heavily and turns to watch Evan work. His hands move steadily, prying open the radio box, but when he looks up— "Evan?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you looking at?"

"The trees."

"Why?"

"They're… mesmerizing."

Jared's brows furrowed. "Dude that's some haunted possession type shit you're spouting, snap out of it."

"But—"

"Look at me, dude."

Evan's gaze snaps over to Jared. "What?" Evan asks, but he's blinking again, and that's good enough.

"There you go. That back off yet?" Jared asks to change the topic.

Evan pries it off, and the door opens as Connor returns.

"Got the wire."

"Let's just call up god then," Jared chuckles. "I mean, if we call him up, the devil's gonna have our gps location like, _memorized_ at that point, so we're fucked there, but sure."

Connor rolls his eyes and uncoils the copper wire he found. Each of them pick up their radios and arrange them in a circle around the house radio as they pass around the copper wire in a circle too. When the wire makes a few loops, it stays in place in a big circle around their laps. They grab each others hands and pray, radio tuned in to 109.8 FM. It's never hard to find god, he's always talking on one channel whereas the devil always changes. They listen hard, and—

The radio falls silent from the ambient sounds it had been making.

"Oh. ͠Hi̵ ͏t͜h̛e̡r͠e͘," says the voice of the devil. It sounds like smoke and honey.

Jared receives death grips in both hands holding his, and they all go rigid.

The devil's voice is beautiful. "Oh, da̧rl̢ing̢… ͢I ̸m̛i͜ss ̵y͡o̸u. ҉I h̵a̛v̕e a͢l̨ways͢ mis̢s̸ed̢ ͢yo͠u.͏ ͢I ͠c͝an s͡t͠iļl r͘e͏m̸e̛mber ̕whaţ y̡our face̕s̕ ͢wer̨e lik̡e.̕ I ̧hąv͝e ̛m͜is̡se̶d̡ ͢t̛h͢e̴m since be͘f͠ore͘ ͝yo͘u were͟ born."

Jared's heart is beating irrationally fast as his eyes remain fixed on the radio.

"Please com̶e ͡bac͠k.̕ I know͠ I ̸c̷an͜'͠t o̵ff͜er ͡mu̷c̢h. ͢T͡he͞ ̢b͠odies I ̵c̴an̛ ͜giv̢e͞ y͝o̴u are͡ ̕w͟eak. T͞he st͝o̵r͢i͞e҉s ̶I͏ t͠e͡ll҉ ̕are҉ ̴i̸mp̶ossible̢.͝ ͠My ̧wo͢rl̢d̢ ͠i͠s̵ ̡e͏ven ͟mo͠r҉e͏ ̴p̛re͠c̡a̛ri͏ou͞s ̷than th͝is͢ one̶. ̴Buţ p̕l͡e̸a͏se̡ ̵c̡om͘e͜ ̶b̷a̢ck̢. ҉It ̸hur͜ts͏ t̶ơ ̷se͟e̶ y̢o͞u̕ l͠i͞ķe ţh̵i̴s͘ s̵o muc͜h."

The silence makes it all the more striking. There is nothing else to hear but the words, so confusing and terrifying and elegant.

"So ̷ųn͘hap͡p͡y̷ i̡n͟ ͞those bodi͡e̛s ̡of ̛you̸rş.͏ S͏trick̴en̷ ͏b̛y̴ ̡th̷ose ̶s҉tor̷i̵e͞s. For̛c̷ed tǫ ͘liv̧e̵ ̨i̧n s̷o m͡uch p͢ain. I̡ c̷a̸ņ't͢ ͜ev̸en ̕c̨o̶m͠e̷ s̢a҉ve you.̡ But͠ ̶I ͏c͢a̛n̴ ̨p̶r̵o̷mi͟se ̷you ͢o̷n̵e͏ t̢h͏ing."

Jared can swear they all hold their breath.

"T̕hȩre'̧s ͡ro̶om f̷or͜ t͡h͞r̢e͞e in ͏my͜ wo͘r̴ld̛.̢ And o̴nl͟y ͜two͞ ̴in his."

There's a gap of intense silence.

The radio's fallen silent. The offer is on the table.

They get to their feet.

Jared stares at the ground.

“W-What do we do?” Evan asks.

“Fuck,” Connor mumbles. He stomps his foot into the floorboard and paces back across the room. As he moves, he kicks at the radios, smashing and denting them. They play a warped song. “Fuck.”

Evan jolts in place, like he wants to do something but can’t make himself. “Well she- the devil, she wants us to- to-”

“We just got a fucking job offer, man,” Jared says, laughing.

The look Evan gives him is terrified, but he can’t stop chuckling.

“What the fuck are you laughing at, Kleinman?” Connor asks loudly, stomping forward to loom over him.

“She’s right.”

The others stare at him.

“What?” Evan whispers, horrified.

“The devil’s fucking right! Connor, don’t tell me you don’t get it,” Jared says. He waves Connor up and down. “You! Tell me _you_ don’t want to get the hell away from here and _start over_.”

Connor swallows hard.

“Wait wait waitwait _wait_ !” Evan says. “You- you can’t-! It’s the devil, literally Satan! We can’t- guys, we _can’t_ . We would be putting everyone at camp in danger! Our families would be so di-”

“What families?” Connor yells.

Jared smiles a bit. He’s already won Connor over.

“Evan, come on. _What families_ ? Jared’s family? Who sent him here hoping he would come back and be less of a disappointment? They don’t love him, they just want someone they didn’t get. My family? Who sent me here to pray the gay away? They’re just gonna wish I was someone else too. Evan, your family? Your _mom_ ? Your mom, who’s _never_ there for you, who _always_ has something better to do? Is she-”

“Yes!”

Jared’s gaze snaps over to Evan, who’s holding his arms tightly.

“Yes,” he repeats, voice cracking. “My mom loves me. I know you don’t have that experience, and I’m sorry, but I love my mom, and I don’t want to do something that will hurt her.”

Connor looks up at Jared. “Jared, what do we do?”

Jared takes a few steps towards Evan. “Evan. Can I touch you?”

“Y-yeah.”

Slowly, Jared moves his hand forwards and takes Evan’s jaw. He lifts Evan’s chin until Evan is staring him in the eyes.

“Jared?”

“Your mom loves you.”

Tears spring into Evan’s eyes.

“I know this is going to be hard to believe, but she’ll love you no matter what, right? So why would she turn her back on you for doing something that will help save you?”

“I- I don’t…”

“Evan,” Jared says, gently pulling Evan’s arms down. “What if this isn’t bad? If the devil wants to help us, why can’t we let her?”

“This world hates us,” Connor pipes up. His hand reaches over and settles on Evan’s neck. “It’s unfair, and it’ll never let us be ourselves. It’ll never let us be happy.”

“Wouldn’t your mom want you to be happy?” Jared asks.

Evan shudders, and looks away. “If, if this is forever. If we change and we end up in hell with the devil, do you think I can still see her?”

“I would bet we can work something out,” Jared says. He turns his head to Connor, who nods. “If we’re so wanted down there, I’m sure we can work out a deal.”

Evan’s mouth slowly twitches into a smile.

Just as he does, outside there’s a noise. It’s different from the loud sirens that pushed them to do rounds; this time the sound is echoing out. It’ll spread for miles, and there’s no way it won’t wake up the other campers.

Evan jolts under Jared, but this time he looks less unsure. “They’re coming for us.”

“They’ll try and purify us,” Jared frowns.

“Fuck it, hail Satan, we’re doing this,” Connor growls. He turns and runs across the room to the windows, peering out. Evan scurries away too.

Jared turns and looks around too. “Okay, we’re doing this. There’s gotta be a way to--”

“Got it.”

He whips his head over to Evan, who has a broken piece of PVC pipe in his hands.

Evan stares past Connor, out the window, at the trees. A small smile crosses his face. "It's the trees. They were always trying to tell me something; I can see it now."

Without looking, he thrusts the jagged edge of the pipe straight down his shirt, and it splits his skin wide open.

Jared’s about to scream when he realizes that there’s no blood coming out. Instead, where the skin splits, flowers and leaves and grasses bounce out, as if they were always right under the surface of his skin, waiting to spring outwards. He keeps slicing his skin open, but he doesn’t look in pain. He’s smiling.

Jared turns to look to Connor, who’s smiling too. He looks down at his hands, leans back against the window, and yanks a finger back so far it should break.

Connor’s hand makes a noise like cracking ice, and in the light from the lamp outside, he sees glints of cracks in his skin. He keeps crushing his own fingers, which look no worse for wear seconds later. In moments, they fracture like glass and become less and less opaque until they are literally crystalline.

Then, Jared feels it too.

There’s a light tickle at the back of his throat, and the second that he ignores it, his chest is filled with an intense need to cough. So he coughs, doubling over, and watches a cloud of shining dust float slowly down from his mouth. Then, his chest demands he coughs more. A fit of coughs ensues, and he’s forced to close his eyes. He reaches for his shoulders for something to hold on to, but the skin underneath is not fleshy. It feels like smooth scales on his shoulders.

Slowly, the coughing subsides from Jared’s throat, and he looks up. He’s surrounded by a gleaming blue haze, but he looks around and finds all of them are transformed. Evan and Connor look inhuman, but beautiful nonetheless.

Jared wonders if they’re demons now.

But then, he listens and hears the faraway sound of footsteps approaching rapidly.

The three of them share a look, and they smile.

They understand now, and soon the other campers will too.

 

-

  
The radio, crushed and forgotten, plays a song on repeat. A while ago, it was almost silent, but now it's deafening.

It's beautiful.

It's love.

When they touch, the feeling is irreplaceably intended as love.

Evan was the first, eager and distracted enough to rip his body into ribbons to grow plants there instead, but Connor, and soon Jared go as soon as they let the devil in.

Evan has strips of skin wrapping around him, but he’s half plant now, and his veins course with sap. Leaves and flowers spring from his wounds as fluffy and soft as fur, and he’s beautiful this way. He actually believes it himself too.

Connor's knuckles and hands and arms and legs all gave way when they cracked and shattered like granite sculptures revealing a masterpiece underneath. His limbs turned to solid glass, the shards working their way up his waist and shoulders and cheeks. He was fragile. He was invisible at times. He was always beautiful.

Jared's mouth coughed out a glittery blue mist, and his skin became scaled and textured at the shoulders and back and thighs. At first, it reminded him of an alligator, but he laughed when the texture was more consistent with that of a keyboard. His breath was stardust, and though it might poison humans, it was only beauty for the his two companions.

Evan slipped from his body quickly to replace strips of what he hated with what he loved. Connor cracked his joints and shattered skin into glass. Jared needed only cough and convulse once to send ripples through his body.

Now, the devil isn't lonely; the sound from the broken radio grows more harmonious with every second. They accompanied themselves. They were freed upon their own request.

The other kids would come. They would come with god and dangerous radios, prepared to purify and drag them back into their bodies.

But they will not.

They won't get that far.

All they need is a moment, and the other kids will see and understand and give up.

They’ll show them.

 

-

It’s five AM now.

They sit on the docks of the lake, watching the sunrise through the treeline to the east.

They’re alone, for now.

The other campers are all locked in their bunks for now. They’re changed too, because as it turned out, there’s a lot of kids at the reject camp that wanted to start over too. But they were too unruly, too conflicted, too unsure of their new path for the time being. So the boys locked the other kids up in their own cabins to give them a chance to calm down.

The Captain was a nuisance. Adults are so much harder to teach than kids are. He was devoutly dedicated to god for the first hour or so, but eventually they got to him. He’s quiet now. He understands, on some level, or at least he has the sense not to open his mouth and talk back to the three possessed kids who could kill him if any of them so pleased.

So they were alone.

The silence was broken when Jared coughed once, and then bent over as the fit ripped through his throat. It doesn’t cause him pain, but there’s a rawness in violent coughing that makes it uncomfortable. Stardust from his lungs falls slowly down between his knees and into the lake water below.

Evan’s hand rubs soft circles into his back, and Connor holds his hand gently.

Over his shaking form, the two share a smile.

The water will be contaminated now. This water from the springs and lakes and rivers will be bottled as drinking water by companies. There’s no way any chemical cleaners could separate Jared’s stardust from the water without incense and holy radios. It’ll take a very long time before people realize the seeds of perfect impurity they’ve put in the water, and an even longer time before they’ll be able to find the source of it.

Hopefully by that time, they’ll have visited enough Summer Scouts camps that there won’t be too many left to hunt them down.

Eventually, they will be pursued. But with any luck, they’ll win, just like they won against a whole camp.

Monsters still prowl. They’re a slightly worrying problem; even if they’re on the devil’s side, the monsters are a danger. But now, they can fight back with their own strength, not god’s playtoys. Connor already killed one that was trying to finish off a camper they’d knocked unconscious.

No, they don’t want to kill anyone. Nobody deserves unjustified death. But these kids were force fed a black and white story that just wasn’t true.

God had been keeping the world blind from the truth. But the three boys have a new Apple of Eden.

When the time comes, they’ll have a whole apple _orchard_ to share with the world.

**Author's Note:**

> In case you want to play the game now that you know the true ending plot...
> 
> On steam for 8 USD:
> 
> http://store.steampowered.com/app/435300/We_Know_the_Devil/


End file.
